Will the death of almost 1,000 passengers in the Red Sea ferry disaster break the cycle of negligence and corruption? Probably not, writes Shaden Shehab "The lives of Egyptians are, alas, very cheap." The comment was typical of many made following the sinking in the Red Sea of the ferry Salam Boccaccio 98 on Friday, a catastrophe that claimed the lives of 1,000 of the 1,400 passengers. The government's handling of the disaster acted to compound public shock which quickly turned to anger when it became clear that the rescue operation had begun five hours after the ferry sank, leaving many to perish in the water. Dumbfounded by news that the ship had sunk, relatives of the passengers were forced to journey back and forth between Hurghada and Safaga seeking information on the fate of family members -- information the boat's owners, Salam Maritime, did not provide. On Sunday they watched in disbelief as a group of young men tossed dozens of body bags containing victims into a refrigerated truck, where they were stacked one on top of another. The fortunate ones found their dead, the others were obliged to prolong their agony. Faced with such scenes the frustration of the bereaved spilled over into anger. Salam Maritime's offices were attacked on Monday, with furniture thrown in the street and the company's emblem burned. Riot police used tear gas to disperse the furious crowds. The majority of the victims were Egyptian workers returning home from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. A spokesman for Salam Maritime -- owned by Mamdouh Ismail, a member of the Shura Council and close associate of Presidential Chief of Staff Zakaria Azmi -- insisted the ferry met "with all international safety regulations and treaties and was certified to make international voyages". The government's immediate response to the disaster was predictable. Those found to be responsible would be punished, said officials, and new regulations to safeguard passengers at sea would be implemented. Yet as the days passed and more revelations came to light the official assurances rang increasingly hollow. Most shocking, perhaps, have been news reports that the ferry was not supposed to transport people at all, but livestock. The ferry's sea-worthiness has been repeatedly questioned, and allegations abound of bribes being paid in order to secure the necessary safety certification. One thing is certain -- such ferries are equipped with an automatic alert system that works as soon as it touches the waters. In Salam Boccaccio 98's case it didn't function. There are reports that the ferry's captain sent a distress signal to the monitoring tower in Safaga, which was for some reason unmanned at the time. The signal was, however, picked up by another ferry owned by Salam Maritime. The captain contacted the company which instructed him to ignore the matter, even though he was close by. He sailed on. The ferry sank at about 2am while the haphazard rescue operation only began at 7am, leaving the inevitable question of how many lives might have been saved if action had been taken earlier. Two boats owned by the company have sunk in the past 10 years, though no action has been taken against Salam Maritime. Nor is the public mood optimistic that the situation is about to change. "Disasters will continue to happen as long as those responsible are not penalised and officials continue to declare that corruption doesn't exist, or claim that nothing can be done because we are in the middle of a reform process," said Hisham El-Agroudi, an engineer. "If this happened in another country the government would be forced to resign and there would be a period of national mourning and reflection," said Latifa Ahmed, a housewife. Yet just hours after the announcement of the sinking of the ferry thousands of Egyptians, including leading government officials, were cheering the Egyptian football team in its African Cup match against Congo. "It seems that Egyptians are becoming accustomed to catastrophes. Such disasters are now thought normal," said Osama Mounir, an accountant. Following each disaster the public has been promised that action will be taken, those found responsible prosecuted and regulations to avoid a repeat put in place. Yet the cycle of negligence and corruption has continued unbroken. In 2002, following a fire on an Aswan-bound train in which more than 400 people were burned to death, promises were made to upgrade the rail service. Little has been done. And while the then minister of transport lost his job not one government official has been held responsible. Instead, 11 low-ranking employees were put on trial only to be acquitted by the judge who said negligence at the highest levels of the Railway Authority was to blame. In September a fire at the Cultural Palace in Beni Sweif claimed more than 50 lives. The building was not equipped with fire extinguishers and exit doors had been locked. More recently a debate has been raging over conditions in public hospitals and the competence of their staff. And there have been scandals associated with the import of banned carcinogenic pesticides, unacceptably high levels of air pollution and contaminated drinking water. There has been the much-publicised collapse of buildings following infringements of building regulations made possible by a blatantly corrupt and ineffective licensing system. Yet following repeated promises in both the presidential and parliamentary elections of comprehensive reforms that will empower ordinary citizens the public is not holding its breath. "If the government does not find a scapegoat it just closes the case," said Tawfik Hussein, an engineer. He cites the sexual assault of women who attended a protest against the amendment of Article 76 that made the presidential election possible, along with all its promises of reform. In January the prosecutor-general dismissed all charges after an investigation lasting more than six months on the grounds that "no basis for a criminal suit exists because the culprits are unknown." "Do they think we are stupid?" asks Mounir recalling the Minya murders. Ten people living in three different homes were butchered and their genitalia mutilated last December. The grim murders baffled public and officials alike, but soon the Interior Ministry declared that a schizophrenic man was behind the killings. So what will happen in the wake of the Salam Boccaccio 98 disaster? Will investigations reveal that no one is to blame? Will there be an announcement of new safety measures that everyone knows will be ignored? If that is the case the public will not be surprised, it will just be further embittered.
